It Isn't Always Easy
by SouvenirsFamiliers
Summary: After the events of The Avengers, Thor returns to Earth – with Loki in tow. The rest of the Avengers are not enthusiastic about making him part of the team, but they don't have much of a choice. Eventual Thorki.
1. Welcome Back

_Welcome Back_

The Avengers got a head's up from SHIELD that there had been a "disturbance" in New Mexico again and that they might be getting a visit from an old friend. After the events in New York, SHIELD and Tony had worked together to construct a training facility in the New Mexico desert. It had been completed in record time, and the Avengers had been called there several months previously to begin training. Tony wasn't sure if Thor and his companion had been escorted to the new facility by SHIELD agents or if they had walked, but either way, there they were.

"Hi," said Tony.

"Hello," Thor said with a grin. He put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "It has been too long."

"I don't know about that," said Tony, eying the person standing next to Thor dubiously, but he returned the gesture and grinned at Thor briefly. He licked his lips and gestured at Loki. "Is he, uh . . . ?"

"Loki is here to join us," Thor said, and put an arm around Loki's shoulders. Loki smiled thinly but did not push him away.

"Right," said Tony, and let them inside.

They hadn't eaten in a while, so when the rest of the Avengers answered Tony's summons to the kitchen, they found the two gods decimating their food supplies. Thor had found the secret stash of Pop-Tarts, three bags of Doritos, and a watermelon, and he had eaten them all. He was currently working on the ice cream. Loki, meanwhile, was calmly eating a bowl of cereal.

"Thor and Loki got here this morning," Tony said by way of introduction. "Apparently Loki's traded Scar for Bambi, so play nice. Also, someone take them to the supermarket because we need food and they don't know how to buy things yet."

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Steve asked. To say that any of the Avengers looked pleased would be a vast overstatement.

"I vouch for my brother," Thor said as he slammed the ice cream carton emphatically on the counter. "I have promised to look after him and ensure he causes no trouble, here or on Asgard."

"No mind control, then?" Natasha asked sharply.

"No," said Thor, though he looked uncomfortable. "He is permitted to use magic, but not in any way that would be harmful." He gave Loki a side-long glance.

Loki had been watching the exchange quietly. Now he smiled slightly. "You are all perfectly safe. I am sure you are all simply too polite to ask, but time passes differently on Asgard." He inclined his head slightly. "I have been thoroughly punished for what I did."

"How, exactly?" asked Clint. Thor glared at him and settled his hand on Mjöllnir. Everyone suddenly decided they didn't want to know.

"He has seen the error of his ways," Thor said as though Clint had never said anything. Loki did not imply that he agreed or disagreed, and merely smiled tightly.

Tony clapped his hands together. "Now that that's settled, I'm sure we'll all be one big happy family. Jarvis, tell me if they destroy anything important."

"Yes sir," said Jarvis unhappily.

He paused and met the god's eyes for the first time since he had showed up. "Welcome to the Avengers Initiative, Loki."

Loki merely smiled in response. Tony left, and the rest followed him as quickly as they could. "You see?" said Thor. "With time, we will all be great friends."

"I am sure," Loki said dryly, and reached for the Goldfish.

* * *

_Author's note: _This story is also posted on my Tumblr.


	2. Fight It Out

_Fight It Out_

The main purpose of the building was for training, which meant its gym was quite extensive. SHIELD hadn't let Tony give each Avenger their own floor because of some regulations ruling top secret buildings or something, but he had made sure everyone still had specialized training facilities in addition to general rooms that could be used by anyone. Also, being Tony, he had made sure one of the common training rooms had bleachers.

The Hulk and Thor were currently engaged in a mock fight. The rest of the Avengers and Loki were watching them from the bleachers built against one wall. The rest of the floorspace was empty, and Thor and the Hulk were taking up all of it.

The Hulk leapt towards Thor. Energy crackled around Thor's hammer as he drew on lighting from clouds none of them could see in the windowless room. A light shorted out, and then a second and a third before Thor finally thrust Mjolnir forward and took the brunt of the Hulk's blow. It was only enough to make the Hulk stumble, but he was soon aiming another punch at Thor. Loki smirked from the sidelines as the Hulk's fist met Thor's hammer with enough force to stop both of them in their tracks. Loki had always liked watching Thor fight, especially when he was in danger of losing.

The Hulk finally hit Thor hard enough to send him flying across the room. Natasha noticed that Loki was grinning. "Why are you so happy about your brother's misfortunes?" she asked the god, who was lounging casually on a bleacher a level above the rest of them.

Loki knew that she was still bitter about what he had done, but he ignored her harsh gaze. "He is not my brother, since as you know I am adopted. However, I enjoy seeing him challenged like this. There is nothing he enjoys more than a good fight." He smiled at her, all teeth, and she looked away.

It took a while, but using Mjolnir, Thor was finally able to pin the Hulk to the ground for the required ten seconds. Tony called it and the two got up. The Hulk looked like he wanted to punch Thor again anyway, but with a little calming from Tony, he relaxed and turned back into Bruce. Thankfully, Bruce and Tony had finally figured out how to make some pants that stretched with the Hulk. Bruce shrugged on a t-shirt and sweatpants over them, and both fighters took water bottles from the table eagerly.

"Okay, Loki and Thor are last," Tony said. "Are you sure you're up for another fight?" he asked Thor.

Thor shrugged. "There is no time for rest in a real battle, and my brother will not be a challenge for me."

Everyone in the room but Thor and Loki winced. Loki slid off his seat and drew himself to his full height, still smiling. "Really, there's no need to be rude," he said to Thor.

Thor looked at him and threw Mjöllnir aside. "I will make it as even as I can. I will not use Mjöllnir, and you are not to use magic or your knives, or weapons of any kind."

Loki raised one eyebrow. "Ah. A kind offer."

Thor took the towel he was offered and wiped his face and neck. Loki waited patiently, watching Thor's movements carefully as though he were sizing him up. After Thor had drained the bottle of water, he undid the lacings of the top part of his armor and pulled it over his head, revealing a plain white t-shirt underneath that he had borrowed from Tony. "If I am to fight you without weapons, our armor will be too cumbersome for this," he told Loki.

"Then I suppose I should follow suit," replied Loki. Until now, he had remained distrustful of Midgardian clothing and had refused to wear it, so he had nothing to change into.

"Uh, you can borrow my shirt," said Bruce, and tossed Loki a black t-shirt. Loki caught it one hand without looking away from Thor. He muttered something under his breath and gestured with his free hand. Suddenly, he was wearing the t-shirt, and his leather coat and jerkin were folded neatly on the bench beside him. With a second gesture, the knives he had hidden in the sides of his Asgardian boots floated over to land on top of the pile of clothes.

"Is that always how you change?" asked Clint, the first words he had spoken during the whole training session.

"It is usually more trouble than it's worth, but it is useful when I am hurried," Loki replied absently. He moved to the center of the room and Thor followed. They remained quite a distance apart. Tony didn't blame them.

"We have not sparred like this for nearly 300 years," Thor said with a grin.

"Indeed," said Loki, though his smile was distinctly less pleasant.

"Geez, how long to these guys live?" muttered Clint.

"Ready," said Tony. "Start!"

If any of the other Avengers had ever thought that the two gods looked out of place on Earth with their unconventional outfits, there was no way any of them could think they looked ridiculous now. The thin t-shirts clung to them, and as they circled each other warily, their well-fitted leather boots and pants drew attention to just how tall and fit they both were. Thor was not frequently described as graceful, but without Mjolnir, he moved like a great cat intent on its prey. Loki, on the other hand, moved so fluidly he might have been made out of water. Even without a single weapon in hand, they looked deadly.

Thor struck first. He lunged for Loki, clearly intending to pin him to the ground on his first try, but Loki ducked swiftly out of his reach. He hooked a leg under Thor, toppling him to the ground. Thor landed heavily on his back, but when Loki attempted to pin him, Thor lifted him by his shoulders and threw him in a summersault over his own head. They both nearly ended up lying on their backs, but Loki managed to get his legs under him just before he hit the ground and sprung back up to standing. By then, Thor had gotten up to his feet and was watching Loki carefully.

They circled each other again, more quickly this time. "I guess Loki's a little better at this than we thought," said Steve, which was pretty much what all the other Avengers were thinking.

This time when Thor lunged for Loki, he anticipated Loki's evasive movements. He grabbed the other god in a headlock, and Loki hissed in displeasure. They had ended up near a wall, so Thor slammed Loki against it. After a good three seconds of them standing there, staring at each other and breathing heavily, Tony cleared his throat. "You've gotta pin him to the floor."

Thor grabbed Loki again and threw him onto his back on the floor. Loki hit the floor heavily and groaned, but Thor had clearly not thrown him as hard as the last person to have done so, because Loki struggled strongly when Thor straddled him and pinned his wrists beside his head. "Do you yield?" demanded Thor.

"Who do you think I am?" asked Loki, and kneed Thor in the stomach.

Loki's offensive strategy seemed mostly to be to wear Thor out, and it seemed to be working. Thor was clearly not recovered from his fight with the Hulk, and Loki was very good at making him angry, irritated, or simply distracted. Loki would continually keep just out of Thor's reach, and then let Thor catch him enough to give Thor a sharp elbow to the ribs. Thor did not treat Loki like he was made out of glass, far from it, but he was clearly holding back.

"Are you afraid of hurting me?" Loki teased when they had separated to eye each other again.

"You know I would never hurt you, brother," Thor said gruffly. "That does not mean I will not win."

"Hmm," replied Loki, and it was not a reassuring sound.

Thor was getting more resistant to Loki's darting attacks, and he had clearly figured out that it was best to keep Loki close where he could reach him. He caught the other god in an unbreakable hold, one arm at Loki's waist and the other at the back of his neck, but Loki grabbed hold of his hair and twisted one of Thor's wrists at an uncomfortable angle so that Thor could not throw Loki to the ground without hurting both of them. They struggled for a moment, at a standstill, until Loki suddenly stopped. He leaned forward and licked Thor's cheek.

"What are they, _five?" _demanded Tony incredulously, but Thor did not pull away as the audience had expected. Instead, he froze.

Loki licked a long, slow line up Thor's jaw. Thor's jaw worked, but he seemed to be paralyzed. Loki leaned forward and looked as though he were about to lick Thor's _ear, _and moved his body in a long undulation that pressed him even closer to Thor. For a moment, Thor's grip went slack. He realized his mistake almost immediately, but it was too late. Loki twisted out of his grip, laughing, and danced away.

"Loki," Thor growled with a glare. "I told you, no tricks."

"You told me no magic and no knives, and I have used neither," Loki replied with a grin. "Did that affect you so?"

Thor growled and threw himself towards Loki. Loki grabbed Thor's arm and used the momentum to throw Thor to his back on the ground. Loki knelt on his stomach and pinned his arms. "Ha," said Loki triumphantly, but he barely had time to grin before Thor drew his legs up, grabbed Loki's torso between his legs, and threw him to the ground.

This time, Loki had a harder time getting up right away. Still, he rolled out of the way before Thor could pin him again, and managed to get to his feet. They stared at each other for a moment. The fight had gone on for a long time, and they were both tiring. Something flashed in Loki's eyes, and he darted towards Thor with sudden speed. This time, he did not aim to distract Thor. The blow to Thor's jaw caught him unawares, and Loki pinned Thor down face-first so that Thor could not throw him off easily this time. He knelt on Thor's back back, and only the sounds of Loki's harsh breathing and Thor's swearing could be heard in the room.

Tony counted the last five seconds aloud and the fight was over.

Everyone clapped Thor on the back and gave Loki at least a "good job" (of varying degrees of enthusiasm) except for Clint and Natasha, who were the most uncomfortable around Loki by far. Neither of them looked happy that Loki had won.

"Well, shower time," said Tony, and slung his own towel over his shoulder.

"You'll have to show me how they work," Loki told Thor. "I am still getting used to these Midgardian things."

"Have you not bathed at all since we got here?" Thor asked incredulously as they left the training room.

"To the contrary. I have been taking baths."

"It's good they have each other," Bruce murmured as the rest of the Avengers hung back.

"Yeah," said Clint. "Did you see the way they were throwing each other around out there? One of us wouldn't stand a chance." Everyone looked at him. "In bed," he added with the air of someone stating the obvious.

Tony narrowed his eyes. "Is that from experience?"

"Alright, I think it's high time for us all to take showers," Natasha said pointedly, and ushered them out of the room.

"I thought they were brothers," said Tony.

"But they keep saying Loki's adopted," said Bruce quietly, and the group stopped moving towards the showers. They all stared at each other in shock.

"Oh," said Tony.

"Yeah," agreed Bruce.

After that, the humans got very, very careful about not walking in on Thor and Loki when they were alone together. Some things were better left up to the imagination.


	3. Fat Cat

_Fat Cat_

"I think my brother misses home," Thor said. He was sitting with the rest of the Avengers (minus Tony, who was in the lab) around the kitchen counter in Stark Tower. Right now, the Avengers were having coffee.

"Give him something to take his mind off it," Natasha suggested.

"Yeah, like a pet," said Clint. Everyone looked at him. "What?"

"Like what, a goldfish?" said Steve. "He'd kill it."

"I don't know," said Bruce slowly. "Animal companions have been used to calm down patients in special care units. Loki seems to be both mentally unstable and fundamentally a child, and animals have worked with both groups."

"Loki is not a child," Thor said with a frown. Steve snorted. Thor's frown deepened.

"We could get him a bird," said Clint. "They're low-maintenance."

"No they're not," said Natasha.

"Dogs are friendly," pointed out Steve.

"Well," said Bruce, "I've always said his mind is like a bag of cats." Everyone looked at him. He shrugged.

"No," said Natasha flatly.

"Can you imagine that though?" Clint sniggered. "They'd get into fights–"

"Or bond over wanting to rule the universe," said Bruce with a grin.

Thor frowned. "What are cats like here? On Asgard they are large, dangerous animals. If they want to rule the universe, why would you keep them as pets?"

There was a moment of silence. "No," said Steve. "It's more like . . ." He made a shape with his hands, trying to indicate the size and fluffiness of what they were talking about. "And they always have this shifty look, like they're planning things."

"A lot of people love cats, though," said Bruce. "They're easy to hold and cuddle. Sort of."

"They're mostly social, but they also like to go off by themselves sometimes."

Thor grinned. "That sounds excellent."

So that afternoon, the Avengers (still minus Tony, because they had maybe forgotten about him a bit) went to the pound. They came back three hours later with a cat-carrier, a litter box, and a lot of cat food.

Thor knocked tentatively on the doorframe to his brother's room. "Loki?"

"Yes, Thor?" Loki said absently. He had either learned to read this particular human language or was using some kind of spell to translate, because he appeared to be deep in a book.

"I brought you something."

Loki looked up. His eyes locked on the animal Thor was holding awkwardly in his arms. They had finally picked a black cat with yellow-green eyes. It had been a joke at first, but it turned out the cat was very calm and relaxed around people. It was also an adult, and none of the group trusted Loki with a kitten.

Loki did not look angry, as Thor had been worried he might, but rather curious. "A cat? Why?" Loki's eyes followed it as Thor set it down on the ground. It began grooming itself, oblivious to anyone else in the room.

"I thought you could use the companionship. I hear it is not too difficult to take care of, and they are common pets here on Earth."

"Hmm," said Loki. He moved slowly towards the cat and stretched out a hand. It looked at the hand, sniffed it, and then head-butted it. Loki scratched it gently between its ears.

Thor grinned and crouched down next to them. "It likes you."

"If beasts were the best judges of our personalities, I would have an easier time winning over your friends," Loki replied, and scratched the cat under its chin. It began to purr.

Thor sighed. "Don't say such things. They will warm to you. They just need time."

"Time cannot fix all things." The cat stood up and walked closer to Loki, letting him run a hand along its back. "I will care for the cat."

Thor stood, recognizing that Loki was done with the conversation. "We also bought some supplies. I will bring them to you."

Loki looked up sharply. "'We'?"

"The gift is from me, not them, but I cannot navigate this realm without their help," Thor explained. "Asking for help is not always a bad thing."

Loki looked away, his mouth tight. "Very well. Bring me the supplies." Thor nodded and left.

* * *

When Tony found out about the cat, he expressed that it was a phenomenally bad idea. The rest of them shrugged and pointed out that in the day and a half Loki had had it, nothing had gone horribly wrong. "Think of it as therapy," Bruce told him. "If Thor's stories are at all accurate, he needs something that he knows won't abandon him. I believe he is stable enough that he will not hurt it."

"Well, make sure it stays out of my space, and I want all of you on damage control," Tony said. "I don't want it tearing up the curtains. Pepper would kill me." Somehow, though, the cat (which had a name according to Loki, though he wouldn't tell any of them what it was) kept ending up on Tony's lap whenever he watched TV on the common floor. They all decided it was best just not to mention it.

A week and a half later, the Avengers came back from a shopping trip to find the cat and a large number of kittens lying comfortably in the middle of the common room floor. Loki was sitting cross-legged next to them, watching them. When the Avengers got off the elevator and stared, Loki looked warningly at them.

"I told you that cat was too fat," Tony blurted out, which seemed to break the state of shock they were all in.

"Aw," said Clint, and he stepped forward to get a closer look. Loki gestured with his hand and Clint was thrown backward off his feet. Loki glared at him.

"Hey!" said Steve, and helped Clint to his feet.

"I guess we're not supposed to get close, huh?" said Bruce. He smiled a little. "I get it."

"Brother, you should not have done that! He would not hurt them!" Thor exclaimed, and stepped forward. He was not thrown back, but he did find that he was stopped as suddenly as though he had hit a brick wall.

"They are only a few hours old," Loki said calmly. "I suggest all of you leave them alone."

"Well, could you move them so they're not in the center of the room?" asked Natasha. She looked at them with a critical eye. "And aren't you going to get them a bed? They're going to get cold on the floor like that." She crouched down and smiled at the kittens from afar.

"No," said Loki. "The mother is too tired to be moved." His gaze softened as he looked at them.

"You never told us he always wanted to be a mom," Tony quipped.

"He already was," Thor said absently. Tony's eyebrows shot up. "Will you not let even me near them?"

Loki shook his head with a sigh. "Later, Thor."

"Uh, are we going to pretend that comment never happened?" asked Tony.

"If you need my help, you need only ask," Thor told Loki.

"I'll take that as a yes," said Tony.

The Avengers carefully inched their way around the perimeter Loki had set up with his magic. Loki watched them warily. The cat, for her part, ignored them entirely. She did not seem to mind Loki being around her at all, and by dinnertime, she let Loki move her and her kittens to a makeshift bed of blankets in a corner of his room. The next day, he let Thor pet her, and soon after that, hold the kittens.

"He trusts Thor more than the rest of us, doesn't he?" Steve murmured when the rest of the Avengers snuck over to Loki's room to look at the kittens from a distance. They were all crowded around the doorway rather conspicuously, but Loki was ignoring him. Thor had several kittens on his lap and another in his hands. It tried to suck on Thor's finger and Thor laughed. Loki smiled genuinely, the first time any of the group had seen him do so since he had gotten there.

"Yeah, it's kind of funny that we trust Thor more than him," Tony murmured back.

"And that cat trusts him more than all of us put together."

They were all quiet for a moment as they contemplated the situation. "What are we going to do with the kittens?" someone finally asked.

Tony snorted. "Are you kidding? I get the feeling Loki is about them like Thor is about his hammer. They're not going anywhere."

And that was when the Avengers began to suspect that Loki was becoming part of their lost little family.


	4. A Different Kind of Home

_A Different Kind of Home_

When the Avengers were told to leave the secret base and return to Stark Tower, not everyone was as thrilled as Tony. Returning to civilization meant that they were superheros again, and they had to play the part. Before they even got there, they were given schedules of all the interviews they had lined up with major media companies. Bruce looked slightly concerned. Natasha looked like she wanted to kill something.

Loki was the only one excepted. "As far as the world is concerned, you're still in Asgard," Nick Fury told him in a no-nonsense tone during a briefing. "People aren't going to be too thrilled that we let you walk free, so if you've got to go outside, make sure you're wearing more than a hat and sunglasses." Loki looked like he had just eaten something incredibly bitter. Nick Fury clearly didn't care.

When they left the base, it became clear that it was a very, very good idea that no one was expecting Loki to play nice. Loki didn't seem to mind the plane – he gave it a curious look when they approached it, and then boarded without a word and didn't even blink when it took off – but he was clearly upset about something. He became increasingly tense the closer they got to New York, staring out the plane's window like he could force the plane to turn around just by thinking about it (possible, but unlikely). Thor muttered something in his ear at some point, but Loki shook him off without a word. When they actually got to Stark Tower, Loki walked through the door like a king – and then looked like he wouldn't mind blowing the whole place up. While the other Avengers got settled into their floors at least somewhat happily – Stark Tower was considerably nicer than a secret base in the middle of the desert – he paced his and Thor's floor with a thunderous expression. He hadn't spoken once since they had left the base.

Thor, meanwhile, was busy helping unpack. He walked into his and Loki's common area and gently set down two crates that were mewing pitifully. "Here are the cats," Thor told him. Seeing Loki's expression, he hesitated. "I believe they are unharmed."

Loki wordlessly knelt in front of the crates and opened them both. Kittens immediately poked their heads outside, though they looked very worried about the change in location. Loki held out a hand patiently until the first one came out far enough to sniff Loki's fingers.

In a few minutes, the kittens were all happily running around the room, exploring all the new corners and places to climb. Their mother simply sat outside the crates, watching her offspring. Loki picked her up gently and stood, stroking her.

"Why are you unhappy here?" Thor finally asked. "Is it all the people?"

"I am confined to this place," Loki snapped, finally raising his sharp green eyes to meet Thor's, "and every single human outside of it wishes me dead."

Thor wrapped his arms around Loki and the cat, and though Loki tensed, he did not push him away. Thor stroked Loki's hair, a gesture of affection that was rarely tolerated. "It will all be well, brother. The humans are forgiving creatures."

"Do not call me brother," Loki said with a sigh, and rested his forehead on Thor's shoulder.

Thor only wished that physical comfort from him and a cat were enough to keep Loki from ever being lonely.

* * *

The first session of interviews took place barely a full day after they had arrived at the tower. They all dressed in their best "presentable" clothes and gathered on the common floor to wait. Loki happened to be sitting in an armchair with a book open in his lap in the same room, but he did not even attempt the pretense of reading it. He watched the Avengers mill around, fixing each other's collars. When it was finally time to leave, Thor came over to Loki. He was dressed neatly in a starched shirt and a suit without a tie. Loki would not have let him go out wearing anything less.

"We will be back after dinner," Thor told him. "You can find food here?"

"Of course," Loki said derisively, but Thor did not miss the flicker of disappointment in his eyes.

"Don't go to any of the floors except your own and this one," Tony told him.

Loki gave him a sharp look. "I am sure your servant will ensure _that."_ Loki and Jarvis did not get along well, especially after Jarvis had tried to lock Loki out of Thor's room once.

"He'll be fine," Steve assured Tony.

Everyone piled into the elevator and, with a last worried look from Thor, disappeared. With a sigh, Loki turned back to his book.

It was a long day. Loki was used to enduring time that passed slowly, but knowing that Thor was once again abandoning Loki for his friends did not make it easy. He ate little, and grew anxious as it began to grow dark. Finally, he curled up on the couch in the common floor with a blanket and a book. He had a direct view of the elevator, and when they got home, he would know.

Loki fell asleep waiting. When the Avengers got back to the common floor, they found Loki asleep on the couch, sitting up with his chin tucked to his chest and two of the kittens curled up in his lap. One look at Thor's face was enough to make even Tony stay quiet. Thor looked like he had just seen the simultaneously most beautiful and heartbreaking thing of his life.

Natasha wordlessly pushed all of the other Avengers back into the elevator.

Thor tried to be as quiet as he could as he moved across the room, but Loki woke up when Thor was a step away. Loki looked up in silent greeting, his green eyes still clouded with sleep. Thor knelt down at Loki's feet and tucked a stray strand of jet-black hair behind his ear. Loki was so tired he leaned into Thor's touching, letting Thor cup his cheek in his calloused palm. Loki closed his eyes and sighed, his breath warm on Thor's skin.

The kittens woke and one of them yawned with a little squeak, breaking the moment.

Loki straightened and pushed the kittens off his lap. Thor let his hand drop. "I'm sorry I'm late," Thor said, his voice a little hoarse. "You shouldn't have stayed up."

Loki folded the blanket aside. He stood and Thor stood with him. "I did not intend to wait," Loki lied. "Did you just get back?"

"Yes."

"And did you have a good time?"

"Yes."

"Then there is no need to apologize," Loki told him, and strode towards his room.

"Goodnight," said Thor, who had not moved.

Loki paused in front of his door. "Goodnight, Thor." He went inside and closed the door behind him. A moment later, he opened it slightly and four kittens were ejected from his room. Thor smiled slightly; Loki had discovered several weeks after their birth that the kittens had a tendency to sleep on his face. As much as Loki was clearly fond of them, one too many mornings of being woken by sneezing at the fur tickling his face had been enough for him. Only the adult cat was allowed to sleep on Loki's bed. Still smiling, Thor retreated to his own room. Getting him that cat was certainly one choice Loki could not fault him for.

(He left the door slightly ajar, though he regretted it in the morning.)


	5. Indian Food

_Indian Food_

"I got Indian takeout," announced Bruce when he came out of the elevator onto the common floor. Everyone cheered and came to help carry it in. They were all starving.

"What is Indian takeout?" asked Thor curiously.

"It's food from India," said Bruce.

"Where is this India?"

"It's far from here," Loki replied.

"Yeah," agreed Bruce. "It's to the east, I guess. Or the west, depending on how you look at it."

Thor frowned. "But what makes this food special?"

"It's from India, Thor. Don't be dense," said Loki, but Bruce saw a slight twitch to his lips that indicated he might have known more than he said.

"How do you know so much about Midgardian food anyway, brother?" Thor asked.

"I have been here longer than you. And I'm not your brother."

"Yeah, I don't think that word means what you think it means," Tony told Thor.

"It means I love him!" Thor protested.

"We know _that_, sweetheart," Natasha said dryly. "You got some Tandoori chicken, right?"

They all crowded around the dining room table as Bruce apportioned the food. He gave himself and Natasha the same dish, but everyone else had a variety of things to choose from. Loki nibbled delicately at a samosa.

Thor, as usual, seemed prepared to eat his weight in food. When he was through with his first serving, he turned his eye to what Bruce and Natasha were eating. It appeared to be some kind of curry. "Why are you keeping that to yourself?" he asked with a smile.

"Um," said Bruce. "I don't think you'd like it."

"Doubtless it's an Earth specialty they think we can't appreciate," Loki said smoothly.

"Let me try some," Thor said, encouraged. "I will never learn to appreciate Earth food if I don't eat it, yes?"

"Alright," said Bruce dubiously, and pushed a little onto Thor's plate.

"Don't you want some?" Thor asked Loki, poised to take a bite.

Loki smiled. "No, thank you."

Thor shoveled it all into his mouth at once. As he chewed, his face rapidly grew redder and redder. Loki watched with unconcealed amusement. Thor managed to swallow before he had a horrible coughing fit, tears streaming down his face, and hastily excused himself from the table for a glass of water.

"Goodness," said Loki with a smirk, and helped himself to another piece of naan.


	6. Zero to Sixty

_Zero to Sixty_

After a certain incident at a press conference involving Iron Man's suit, the Hulk, and a situation which had quickly escalated into a situation that not even SHIELD could contain, the Avengers and company were sent back to the SHIELD training facility in New Mexico. They were all relieved to be back.

They were also incredibly bored.

"Okay, here's the deal," Tony said after Day 2 of being stuck in the middle of the desert, which had seen even Steve and Thor, of all people, bickering. "Cap and Thor, I've got a lesson for you in pop culture right here." He pointed to the widescreen TV he had supplied the base with. "I've got a series of films lined up that you need to see. First is _The Lion King_, then the Star Wars trilogy (the original, obviously)." He pointed at Loki. "Scar, you might wanna join them, even if it's just to laugh at us silly little humans or whatever. The rest of you, join them or find something else to do. I'm going to be in the lab." He turned on the TV and showed the remote to Steve and Thor. "See, this is the pause button . . ."

"I know how a remote works, Tony," Steve said, not pleased.

"Well, Thor doesn't." He tossed Thor the remote. "No cheating and asking Jarvis for help, okay?" Steve nodded while Thor examined the remote curiously. Tony left, and after a few minutes, Bruce, Natasha, and Clint did too. Steve started the movie.

Loki left when Scar let go of Mufasa. Thor and Steve were too busy being appalled to notice.

* * *

Bruce was one of the few people with unlimited access to Tony's research and development floors, but he still felt awkward interrupting Tony when he was working. He entered the area with his hands in his pockets and waited for Tony to notice him. After a few minutes, he gave up. "Hey Tony, can I borrow the car?"

Tony looked up from the gear he was making. He pushed his goggles up to his forehead and straightened. "You going somewhere?"

"Er, I just need to get some groceries," Bruce said.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "You want to drive?"

Bruce shrugged. "Most of us can't walk into a supermarket without getting noticed, but no one really knows what I look like. I figure I'm the least likely person to get mobbed by the press."

"Tell Pepper to do it."

"She's in New York."

"Oh. Right." Tony made a face. "Sure. Jarvis, show the man the keys. Which one you want?"

"Um . . ." Of course Tony had taken three of his nicest cars with him. Somehow, it didn't seem like 'the least valuable one' would be the right thing to say. "The convertible?"

"Sure thing. You know where it's at." Tony waved a hand in the general direction and turned back to his work.

Jarvis said, "This way, sir," and Bruce followed the voice.

Tony only briefly thought it was strange that Bruce wanted to drive, but he had suddenly realized what the correct position for the gear was, but he needed a screwdriver or something to shove it into place . . . It didn't take very long for Tony to completely forget about the conversation altogether.

* * *

An hour and a half later, Steve and Thor had both decided they needed a break from supposed children's movies. Thor was in the kitchen, trying to figure out how to work the microwave. It was more difficult than he had anticipated.

_"Thor,"_ called Loki's voice, and Thor looked up in confusion. He looked out the window and saw his brother sitting in one of the human vehicles with Bruce. Thor walked to the front door and stepped outside.

"Is something the matter?" Thor asked with concern.

Loki was grinning. "To the contrary. Get in."

Thor stared at him. He did not find riding in the vehicles particularly disturbing, but he was used to them having roofs. It seemed like something was wrong with this one. He approached it cautiously. "Brother, are you driving?"

"Yes. Now stop being cowardly, and get _in._"

Most of the other Avengers had heard this conversation since Jarvis had sent out a whole-building message of, "It may be relevant for you to know that Thor's brother is currently outside the front of the building," because Jarvis trusted Loki even less than most of them.

Steve was the first to go outside to investigate. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, Thor," he said.

"Are you calling my brother a liar?" Thor demanded.

Loki rolled his eyes. "I am not your brother. If you don't get in now, I'm leaving without you." That made Thor jump in the back.

"Fasten your seatbelt," said Bruce, and Thor did. An instant later, Loki floored the gas.

* * *

Tony was dimly aware of Jarvis talking to him, but he was so focused he barely heard him. He did notice, however, when Jarvis said very clearly, "Sir, the Chevrolet has just reached 180 miles an hour."

"What?" Tony demanded, bolting upright. "Who's driving?"

"The god, sir. The destructive one."

Tony ran outside to find the rest of the Avengers watching a fading red speck in the distance. "What the hell?" muttered Tony.

"Bruce taught Loki how to drive," Clint said.

"Oh," said Tony. And then, "Bruce?"

Clint shrugged. "They seem to be getting along. Maybe it's his way of apologizing for the 'Hulk Smash' incident."

A few minutes later, the Chevrolet slid to a stop in front of them. Loki was grinning wildly.

"How long have you been teaching him to drive?" Tony called to Bruce.

Bruce shrugged and looked embarrassed. "Just now. Sorry, Tony. He learned a lot faster than I expected."

"Now, was that not better than flying?" Loki demanded of Thor.

"I think I prefer flying," Thor muttered as he stepped out of the car shakily.

Loki let out a peal of laughter, a sound like nothing the Avengers had ever heard him make before. It was pure happiness. Thor immediately smiled softly and looked at Loki so tenderly the rest of the Avengers almost felt embarrassed. When Loki took a breath, Thor leaned down and kissed him. When he pulled away, smiling, Loki was still smiling up at him. Thor grinned and Loki said something none of the rest of them could hear. Thor laughed heartily and patted him on the shoulder.

"Oh," said Tony again.

Somehow, no one was really surprised.


	7. Forgiveness Is A Dish Best Served Hot

_Forgiveness Is A Dish Best Served Hot_

After the PDA Incident (or the Thing With The Car, as everyone other than Tony referred to it), everyone started finding excuses to leave Thor and Loki alone together. The third time this happened, Thor gave them a confused, slightly betrayed look as they all left the room with vague excuses. Loki just smiled to himself and turned the page of the Thermodynamics textbook he was currently reading. (No one was certain where it had come from. Tony denied ever having seen it before, and he certainly denied buying it for Loki as part of a bet he had with Bruce.)

Loki, interestingly, was the first to make a move. He did not make this move on Thor.

The Avengers had gone on a day trip to Roswell to try to find the UFO crash site. Clint had declined to join them after giving some vague explanation about having "seen enough stuff like that already." This left him and Loki alone in the base with Jarvis, which no one realized might be a problem until the other Avengers were far, far away.

Clint was puttering around in the kitchen, because he didn't have a whole lot to do. "How are you, Jarvis?" he asked.

"I'm well, sir," Jarvis said politely. "How are you?"

"Doing okay." He let another cabinet door slam closed. "Do you know if there's any paprika around? Tony's pantry is shit."

"I believe there is some in the drawer to the left of the stove, from when Pepper tried to get Tony to cook last year."

Clint made a face and pulled the drawer open. "Well, I guess spices don't really go bad . . ."

He hadn't heard Loki come into the room, and when he turned around and saw him sitting at the counter, his hand automatically twitched to reach for a bow he wasn't wearing. He forced his breathing to even out and tossed the little container of paprika powder in the air casually. "Didn't see you there."

Loki watched the movement of the little tin closely, and then his eyes slid back to Clint's face. He arched an eyebrow elegantly. "Do you cook?"

Clint shrugged. "Why do you want to know?" He set the paprika down and began to rummage around under the counter for a pan. When he came back up with a frying pan in hand, Loki was still watching him closely.

"I'm not sorry for using you," Loki said, and okay, that was definitely a non sequitur, but that wasn't a problem, and it was totally fine to bring this up _now. _Clint slammed the pan down on the counter a little too loudly.

"Well, I'm pretty sorry that you did."

"You were a means to an end." Loki's eyes didn't look as hard as Clint had expected, and what, was this his way of apologizing?

"I think I figured that out pretty quickly." Clint went over to the fridge and yanked the door open. When he closed the door, an onion in hand, Loki was examining his fingernails.

"We live for a very, very long time," Loki said slowly, and Clint didn't think he was talking about anyone from Earth. "We don't forget, and we don't expect others to." He tilted his head slightly in contemplation. "Well, perhaps not _all _of us. But I certainty remember, and I know when something is owed."

Clint looked carefully at the garlic in his hands as he broke it into cloves. Maybe Loki was implying that he was still upset about being shipped off to Asgard . . . but he had more than deserved that. Clint wasn't very good at apologies, either, but he could appreciate the effort. "Do you want to help me make goulash?"

* * *

When the Avengers got to the kitchen, all intent on eating out half their food stores to make up for a missed lunch and a failed expedition ("Of course SHIELD would have cleaned up the aliens _ages _ago"), they found Loki already there. He was at the stove, stirring something that smelled like onions and garlic in a frying pan. Everyone stared.

After a full fifteen seconds of him ignoring them and no one saying anything, Loki looked up. "Hello," he said dryly.

"Do you know how to cook?" Bruce asked curiously.

"What are you making?" Steve asked at the same time.

"Where's Clint?" Natasha asked, which was really the more important question.

With a slight smile, Loki looked back at the contents of the frying pan. "Your observation skills amaze me daily," he drawled.

"It's goulash," said Clint, and everyone turned around to find him entering the room with a bottle of wine. He raised his eyebrows at them. "What? You guys don't like Merlot?"

"You left him alone in the kitchen," Natasha said flatly.

Clint shrugged and put the wine on the table. "He's a fast learner. I've barely had to do anything."

"Have you ever cooked before?" Thor asked curiously.

Loki chuckled humorlessly. "Did you think I starved all those nights I was absent from the table?"

"But I thought Thor said you guys grew up in a castle," Tony said, leaning against the island casually and watching Loki closely. "Didn't you have cooks and stuff?"

"We did," Thor said, approaching Loki and peering over his shoulder in fascination, "but my brother did not always choose to eat with us. He would often go far from the castle to places out of reach of the kitchens."

"Why?" asked Steve.

Loki's mouth tightened. "I was not always welcome."

"But you're a prince."

"Known best for my ability to bring trouble with me wherever I go," Loki reminded him sharply.

"And your tongue, of course." Thor leaned in closer and frowned at the food. "Onions? Really, brother?"

Loki gently slapped his hand away when he tried to take a piece. "You can pick them out if you don't like them, but you have to at least try it."

Thor chuckled, a deep rumble that came out of his chest. "Yes, Loki." He put his hands on Loki's hips and pecked him on the cheek. Loki swatted him away, and Thor moved away with a laugh to lean against the counter with the other Avengers.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Bruce asked.

"No," said Loki. He waved a hand and suddenly the table was set.

Tony's eyebrows shot up. "You're being awfully generous this evening." Loki waved a hand and suddenly Tony's place setting disappeared. "Hey!"

"Settle down," said Steve with a sigh. "Let's just eat in peace, shall we?" Loki shot a last glare at Tony, but the place setting reappeared. "Thank you," Steve said tiredly, and they all took a seat.

Everyone waited until Loki and Bruce had taken a bite, and when neither of them keeled over, they dug in. Despite themselves, they all grudgingly agreed that it wasn't bad.

("Everyone realizes that if Loki wanted us to be dead, we would be already, right?" Bruce muttered to Tony while they ate.

"But think about how much more fun it would be for him to see us writhing on the ground like fools," Tony pointed out.

They agreed to disagree.)

* * *

Ever since the Thing With The Car, Steve had spent a lot of time thinking. He had had enough of the Avengers' awkward attempts to communicate through facial expressions without Thor noticing, so after dinner (and dessert) he called a Meeting.

Loki was not invited.

"What's up, Cap?" asked Clint once they had Assembled in Steve's living room.

Steve crossed his arms. "We need to talk."

"Yeah, but what about, Cap?" Tony pipped up. "About the chore schedule, Cap? Or maybe, Cap, the part where we have _a super villain cooking dinner for us?" _

Steve glared at Tony. "I was thinking more about Thor."

Everyone looked at Thor. Thor did not look pleased. "What do you have to say?" he asked Steve in a low, rumbling voice.

"_I _trust you to not let Loki interfere with your work or this team," Steve said firmly. He raised his eyebrows at the rest of the room. "Does everyone else?"

There was an awkward silence. Bruce adjusted his glasses. "I'm not sure it's fair to trust anything having to do with Loki," he pointed out.

"Says the guy who took him for a joy ride."

"So that he wouldn't be bored," Bruce replied. "Would you rather that we have a bored Loki on our hands?"

"Enough," said Steve. "If you have a point, make it."

"I think Loki has actually decided to make an effort to be an okay guy," Clint admitted, "but it does worry me a little that Thor's judgement might be impaired if we get into a situation like New York again. Now that they are, you know, dating."

Thor tilted his head to one side and a smile spread on his face. "You think we are romantically involved?"

Everyone looked at him. "Well, maybe kissing and snuggling means something different in Asgard–" Tony began.

Thor laughed. "When he was finished driving the car? I was only expressing my fondness for my brother. I have not seen him that happy in years."

"Again, not sure that that word means what you think it means," Tony muttered under his breath.

Steve squinted at him. "So, that wasn't you, uh, courting him?"

"Certainly not. Kissing only occurs if the courtship was successful." He looked uncertainly around the room. "Is that not how it is done here on Midgard?"

Clint shrugged. "It depends."

"Are you telling us that you have no intention of courting him?" asked Bruce.

Thor frowned. "It's complicated." No one was really sure what to make of that.

"Why did you bring him here?" Natasha asked, breaking the silence.

"If I had not, he would still be imprisoned on Asgard."

"So, again . . . ?" said Tony. Steve glared at him.

"So it was your choice," Natasha said. Thor nodded. She raised an eyebrow. "And you trust him?"

"Yes," Thor said, and everyone immediately blanched, "but not as you think I do. I trust that he will always act in his own best interest."

"And you think he'll behave so that he won't get punished again?" asked Clint.

Thor shrugged. "Perhaps. I think he may find that he is more powerful when he works with us, as a team."

"His pride won't be an issue?" asked Steve dubiously.

Thor chuckled. "_We_ are a team, are we not?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yes, we've all learned the true meaning of Christmas. But he's too smart to go for that."

"He's more likely to try to manipulate _us_," Bruce mused. He looked at Thor intently. "Is that why he has been trying to convince us he's useful?" They all stared at him. Bruce shrugged. "He did make dinner without poisoning any of us."

"It is possible," said Thor.

Steve sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."


	8. Glass Heart

_Glass Heart_

After the meeting, Bruce found Thor in the above-ground training room. The training room itself was empty of equipment or mats. Thor was simply standing and looking out the window with his hands in his pockets.

Bruce came up quietly beside him and looked out the window as well. The view was a desolate one. Far across the desert, grey clouds were gathering. "Hey."

Thor inclined his head politely. "Hello."

There was a moment of companionable silence. Bruce weighed his words, wondering how to start, but Thor spoke first. "I appreciate what you have done for my brother. You treat him as an equal." Bruce looked at Thor. Thor's gaze was still fixed on the horizon. "It is rare for people with power over Loki to treat him in such a manner."

Bruce spoke carefully. "I was just being decent. We are all people, even . . . gods."

"And monsters." Thor looked at Bruce and smiled. "That is why you are here, is it not? To tell me that my brother is a monster, and that he should not be trusted."

Bruce swallowed. _Monster. _"You know him better than any of us, and you could still not predict what he would do. And he betrayed you, didn't he? Before we met?" Thor inclined his head. "But he is not a monster." Bruce looked at his hands. "Or at least, he should not have to be."

"What do you suggest, then? As you have said, I cannot know his mind."

"This actually isn't what I came here to talk to you about." Bruce paused. "Why did you say that you are not courting him?"

Thor sighed heavily. It sounded like frustration. He looked back at the horizon. "You would not understand."

"Try me."

"You cannot know what it is like to love someone who is despised by all and who has hurt those you love," Thor said darkly.

"I don't know what it's like to love someone like that. But I do know what it's like to be that person."

Thor looked at Bruce. His gaze was laced with sorrow and pity. "I did not know–"

"It's not important," Bruce interrupted. "It's obvious you care a lot about your brother. You would have to, to stick with him after everything that happened." He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. He wasn't used to talking about this kind of thing. "Look, I know it seems like this is between you and Loki, and it is. It's just that right now, it's starting to affect the whole team. That doesn't need to be a bad thing. Tell me if you want me to go away, but . . . I can't help if I don't understand."

"Alright," said Thor. He sat down on a bench against the wall and put his head in his hands. "Alright. I will explain." Bruce sat down next to him and listened.

"I love my brother. The kiss, after he drove that car – it was me teasing him, perhaps, or joy, I don't know. But afterwards, just after, he said, 'You are my brother after all.' I knew it was a jest, mocking me, but it reminded me of the brother I had and the brother I lost. I do not want to lose him again." Thor laughed. "To you, it must seem simple. We are not related by blood, and I have reason to believe he returns my affection. He has been receptive to me, and we have 'cuddled,' as Tony said, as though we were lovers. But we are not.

"Here on Earth, it is simple. But on Asgard, it is complicated.

"My father, as you know, is king of the gods. I am his heir. To be with a man is reason for shame, but not unheard of. As a practitioner of magic, my brother is already disrespected by many. Once, I would have worried that more shame would be more than he could bear, but he has brought more shame on himself since." Thor sighed heavily. "To be with one's brother – how would you say that?"

Bruce wondered if he should lie. He did not want Thor to have to learn the hard way that it was not accepted on Earth either. "Incest," he said finally.

"Yes. Incest is punishable by . . . well, we would be disowned at least, if not exiled. I would bear it, though I would miss my home and family, but how could I do that to Loki? If he does not harm anyone on Midgard while we are here, he has a chance to redeem himself and regain his place as my father's son. If he is dishonored any more, he will be exiled regardless and he will never see Asgard again."

Bruce frowned. "But you aren't related by blood, right?"

Thor smiled. "Even so, we are family. When I was disowned–"

"Wait, you were disowned?"

Thor chuckled. "Oh, yes, but I do not regret it. That was when I first came to Midgard and met Jane." He smiled happily at Bruce. "During that time, we were not brothers, though I believed him to be still related to me by blood. But once my rightful place was restored, even when we believed that Loki was dead, he was my brother. If either of us are still sons of the All-Father, we will bring shame to him, and I cannot do that to my father. He would not accept us. Indeed, I do not believe that Asgard, or any of the nine realms, would accept our marriage."

Bruce's brain slammed to a stop. "Wait, marriage? Thor, what does courtship mean to you?"

Thor frowned. "After courtship, and asking for permission, the couple is married."

This had quickly gotten way out of Bruce's depth. "Okay," he said, thinking, _be logical, be logical. _"I understand why you would want to marry him, and you should if that's what you both want, but you don't _have _to. Not on Earth, anyway. Here – and by here I mean _right here, _because Earth is a big place – you can, you know, be in love without getting married. Tons of couples never get married, even though they may fully intend to spend the rest of their lives together."

Thor's frown deepened. "I had suspected, but . . ."

"All I'm trying to say is," Bruce said quickly, "that you should talk to him about this. You should tell him how you feel, because all he does is play games. He thinks that everyone else does too, and that's why he doesn't believe you when you call him 'brother.' He probably also doesn't _want _to believe you. I can tell you as a fact that he feels like shit – umm, not so great right now, and he needs someone to care about him. I understand that you need to think about this, but _Loki_ needs you to be honest with him. And if you want to stay here with Loki, the whole planet needs Loki to be happy."

"Ah." Thor's face had cleared. "I have long suspected something like this. But I have told him that I love him, and he still does not seem to believe me."

"Yeah." Bruce rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I'm not that great at explaining this, and I don't know how to convince him either, and I'm sorry. I've just got one last thing. This is kind of an unpopular opinion, but . . ." He hesitated. "I think Loki is in love with you. And if you're in love with him too, you should let him know, because if you don't and something happens, he is going to be in a very bad place." Bruce gave Thor a sad smile. "I don't think that a gun is going to do it for him. He's the kind of guy who feels more like destroying a planet."

Thor stared at Bruce slack-jawed. "You really think–"

And then something exploded and all the windows on the floor above them shattered.


	9. A Visitor

_A Visitor _

Loki was lounging in the common area and perusing the so-called "newspaper" when the elevator doors open. He looked up. It was Stark and a girl – nothing out of the ordinary there. "Now, I'm not saying it's _all _work and no play," Stark was saying, and then they stepped out of the elevator and Loki saw the girl's face.

Long, straight brown hair. A pretty smile. Loki would have recognized her anywhere, and when he did, it was as though the past few years had never happened. Loki was sitting on the throne again, terrified and betrayed and angry with the dead weight resting on his shoulders of the certainty that he was _going to lose Thor._ Loki felt ice grip his heart, and when Stark said, "Hey, Loki, have you met Jane?", Loki was already on his feet.

* * *

When Jarvis had announced that they had a visitor – the nice kind, not the kind that they were used to dealing with – and shown Tony the video feed, Tony had happily gone to meet her. He had never actually met Dr. Foster, and he was frankly pleased that she had decided to come over. Her work was in a very different field than his, but he and Bruce had more than enough space and equipment to spare, and really, if she wanted to stay and visit (and spend some time with Thor, of course – and maybe give Tony a little attention when she found out about the Loki thing), she was more than welcome. Speaking of, the least he could do was give her a tour of the complex, right?

Tony hadn't expected to find Loki so quickly, and he sighed internally when he saw him. Of course he would choose _now _to stop lurking in his and Thor's rooms. SHIELD had done a pretty good job of doing damage control on the incident in New York, but a lot of footage had been taken of Loki and his friends before they had gotten there. You would have to live under a rock to not have a good idea of what Loki looked like and what he had done. Tony gestured to Loki in what he hoped was a suitably casual gesture, supposing that he might as well get it over with. "Hey, Loki, have you met Jane?"

Then Tony noticed Loki's expression, and he only had the instant it took for Loki's armor to shimmer into place around him to push Jane behind him. Loki was holding a staff, and it was glowing. "Jarvis!" Tony yelled, and he felt the bracelets around his wrists activate. He had taken to wearing them around, just in case, and he was glad he had.

"How dare you come here," Loki spat, and the guy really should have added in an illusion of acid dripping from his tongue or something, because that was the general impression Tony was getting. Tony's armor finished engulfing him just as Loki raised his staff. There was a high whine as Tony's right repulser charged, Loki snarled something unintelligible, and a bright bream of light shot from Loki's staff towards Tony and Jane. Tony fired off a blast of his own. It was only when Loki's attack passed harmlessly through them that Tony realized it was an illusion. Tony's attack definitely hadn't been.

Loki barely had time to throw up a force field around him before the blast was on him. The shield of magic crackled blue and spat white sparks where the blast hit. The blast glowed a strange color, Tony crouched over Jane, and the stray energy from the blast exploded outwards. For a minute, all Tony could hear was ringing in his ears.

Tony shook his head to clear it and looked down at Jane. She seemed stunned, but otherwise unharmed. Tony straightened and faced Loki. His right reactor would take a second to recharge, but his left one was already up. He extended both of his hands palm-out to remind Loki that if he moved, he was dust. Maybe.

Loki was breathing heavily. His hair was a little mussed, but otherwise, he looked completely unaffected by what had just happened. His gaze was still fixed on Jane, and he looked extremely unhappy. His whole body started to glow, and Tony got a very bad feeling about this.

"Help is coming, sir," Jarvis said helpfully in his ear.

"Yeah, thanks buddy," Tony muttered. Common sense said that if the last attack had been an illusion, this one would be too, but this didn't feel right. The image of the staff shimmered away into nothing, and now the space between Loki's hands was starting to glow.

"Detecting unusual energy signatures," Jarvis said. "I suggest evacuating the area."

"No thanks," said Tony.

The door to the stairs banged open, and Thor and Bruce rushed through it. Right on time. _"Brother,"_ Thor thundered, and a flash of lightning in the distance punctuated the word. _"What have you done?" _

Tony scanned the damage. The explosion – reaction – whatever it had been had shattered the windows and left a dark scorch mark in the floor. The furniture wasn't looking too hot, either. "Sorry guys," Tony said, not relaxing from his stance in the least. "This one's on me."

"Really?" muttered Bruce.

"Stay out of this, Thor," Loki hissed. His image was distorted as though the power gathering between his hands was giving off an incredible amount of heat. Sweat was gathering on his forehead.

Thor finally noticed Jane crouching behind an overturned table next to Tony. Thor frowned and took a step towards her. "Jane?"

_"Don't touch her!"_ Loki's spell flared brightly.

Thor whirled around and glared at Loki. His grip around his hammer tightened. A rolling boom of thunder sounded. Ah yes, the wrath of gods. It made Tony kind of want to roll his eyes, because Loki didn't look super intimidated, and it would be nice if someone would _do _something about it. He didn't need to look at Bruce to know that he doing the same thing Tony was: waiting to see if Thor could solve this problem, because if Bruce needed to Hulk out again, they were in serious trouble.

Cap, Clint, and Natasha showed up. They had clearly all run there, but after one look at the situation, Steve put a hand out to keep Clint and Nat from doing anything.

"You will stop this," Thor said in a low voice. He took three slow, steady steps towards Loki.

Loki's eyes were locked on Thor's. "She can't be here," he snarled. His voice was hoarse.

"You can't sustain this spell, Loki," Thor told him. He took another step forward. Loki gritted his teeth but didn't move. "It won't let you complete this spell. You're draining yourself."

Loki's only reply was a wordless snarl. His armor disintegrated into splinters of light and disappeared. With one last step, Thor reached him. He grabbed Loki by the back of the neck, and, surprisingly, Loki simply looked up at him. Perhaps the spell was draining so much of his energy, he couldn't move – or perhaps he had Thor right where he wanted him. If Loki released the spell, it looked like it would burn a hole right through Thor's chest. Tony glanced at Bruce and they both tensed. Thor's weakness, they well knew, was trusting Loki far beyond the point of reason.

"You will stop this," Thor said quietly. For a moment, Loki simply looked up at him, and then the spell disintegrated.

It was as though the spell had been holding Thor up. Loki still stood stiff as a board, but Thor bent towards Loki as though he had just let out a great breath of relief. He looked as though he might pull Loki into a hug, but instead he let go of Loki's neck and took a step back.

Loki didn't look a little bit like shit; he looked a _lot _like shit. Sweat still glistened on his skin and his was breathing harshly through his nose. Come to think of it, even his clothes looked worse than they had earlier; they were slightly worn at the edges. And was that a metal bracelet on his right wrist? Tony squinted, but before he could be certain, Thor said, "Anthony. Please take Jane to safety." Tony nodded and jerked his head at Cap to join him. He could look over the surveillance tapes later.

Once Tony, Steve, and Jane were safely gone, Thor lowered Mjolnir. Bruce, Clint, and Natasha were still hovering around the edges, just in case, but Thor and Loki didn't seem to notice. They still hadn't broken eye contact. "Why?" Thor asked simply.

"Your lack of intelligence is more astounding than usual," Loki spat, but he didn't have the energy to make it sound threatening.

"She has never harmed you, or me, for that matter. She has helped us." Thor sounded frustrated. "She is the reason I was able to return here before the bifrost had been repaired."

"Yes, which I appreciate so much," Loki said bitterly.

"She is like you!" Thor exclaimed. "She values learning, she can do things most humans don't understand–"

Loki took a step towards Thor. "If I ever lay eyes on her again, I will kill her," Loki spat. Then he turned and walked away. Thor watched him as he reached a broken window, looked out at the uncertainly roiling storm clouds outside, and then stepped out into empty air.

Clint made a strange noise. "Did he just–? He can't fly, can he?"

"It's only the second story," Natasha pointed out. "He's survived a fall like that before." Thor walked over to the window, looked down, and appeared to sigh. He didn't bother to take Mjolnir off of his belt before following Loki. There was a loud thump.

"Elegant as always," Loki said, his voice drifting up to the others.

Clint looked at Natasha. "Should we . . . ?"

Natasha looked at Bruce. Bruce hesitated and then shook his head. "If Thor needs our help, we'll know." Outside, a last bolt of lightning fizzled out.

Clint looked at the ruined room and ran his hand through his hair. "Fury is going to kill us."

* * *

Thor and Loki walked in silence for some time. It was dark outside under the stars and the still present clouds, but neither of them minded. Loki's hatred and anger was still so strong Thor could nearly feel it billowing off of him. It had been partially Thor's fault, he knew; he should have contacted Jane, explained things to her, told her that he was fine and that it would be best if she stayed wherever Fury had placed her. He had never thanked her properly for bringing him back so that he could bring Loki home. He should have when he had the chance.

"Aren't you going to give up the drama?" Loki snapped. Thor looked at him in surprise; it was rare that _Thor _would be accused of being the dramatic one. But then he noticed that the clouds were stilling sitting darkly on the horizon.

"They'll go away when they are no longer needed," he said tightly.

"I suppose you're going to send me back now." Loki's steps on the packed earth were as rapid and forceful as his tone.

"You harmed no one. The spell on you did its work."

"And next time? You think I won't find a way around it?" Thor could feel Loki's glare on his skin. "Even if not, I don't need magic to kill someone."

"But you prefer it." They had never had this conversation before, because Thor had always avoided saying it and Loki had always avoided confrontation like the plague. But Thor was tired and angry and Loki had gone too far. "If you use weapons like the rest of us, you're no better than mere mortals and people like _me_. You use it as a crutch."

"And Mjolnir?"

Thor growled. "A powerful weapon I can do without. I have managed before." Thor had expected an outburst, but Loki was silent. They had traveled a great distance, and the ground around them was becoming rocky and covered in small shrubs. They were getting into the hills that helped keep the base hidden and hard to find. Thor glanced over his shoulder and found that the base was impossible to see in the dark.

Loki stopped, and Thor did the same. "You're the last person who should be encouraging me to use common weapons," Loki informed him. "We both have some distinct advantages over the humans. I could do real damage." There was a gap in the clouds, and his eyes glinted in the moonlight.

"You could work with us," Thor said in a low voice. "You could earn their respect. They don't appreciate tricks."

"You mean I make them nervous."

"They can't differentiate your illusions from real power. They can't predict what you'll do next."

"And you can?" Loki was laughing at him now. "Draw your clouds back and we'll see."

"Hide and seek in the dark?" Thor asked mockingly, but he hefted Mjolnir in his hand and the clouds began to roil and thicken.

"A little more dangerous than that," said Loki from behind him, and Thor spun around. A bolt of lightening sizzled into the ground, illuminating empty air. Thor grinned, and his anger at Loki became more focused. If Loki wanted to let off some steam, Thor would happily oblige.

* * *

"What do you think they're doing out there?" Steve asked as another bolt of lightening lit the sky and there was an answering flash of green light.

Tony shrugged. "Not sure I want to know."


	10. Officially

_Officially_

Apparently the whole point of having a secret base in the middle of the New Mexico desert was so that (a) the location of the Avengers could remain a secret and (b) they could train as a team. Since they hadn't exactly done either, Nick Fury was not pleased when he checked in with them because, well, it was pretty obvious that all the windows on one floor needed replacing.

"What the fuck have you been _doing_?"

The Avengers were perched on various chairs and couches in the common living room and looking guiltily at Nick Fury's face, which was displayed in high definition on the television screen. Tony held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Hey, no one told me that was the deal. We were just lying low. Maintaining our public image, that kind of thing."

Fury looked at him. "And that explains why there are civilian photographs of most of you trying to enter restricted areas _how_?"

Steve gave Tony an "I told you so" look. He had been decidedly not in favor of the Area 51 expedition once he had figured out what it was.

Clint cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Sir, you will notice that Loki has not left the premises, as per your orders–"

"My ass," said Fury. "He has left that building four times since you have been there, and none of you filed a report about it."

Everyone looked at Loki. "Um," said Bruce. "We only went driving twice."

Thor uncrossed his arms. "I must take responsibility for this. I was told not to let Loki out of my sight unless he had a suitable escort. I did not realize a report was required."

"Well, now you do," said Fury. "And thank god one of you has some sense, because if Loki hadn't been seen with either Thor or Dr. Banner each time, we would be in a state of national emergency. Capisce?"

Everyone nodded. "Okay, now that that's cleared up. Barton, I want training exercises planned out. You have a 50-mile radius around the base to use as you please. Rogers, you're in charge of organizing the teams."

"What do we do with Loki?" Steve asked.

"You sure as hell can't leave him by himself," said Fury. "Any questions?" Loki cleared his throat delicately. "What?"

"I am willing to do whatever I can to aid them with their training," Loki said smoothly. "As they have already demonstrated, I am no match for them. Perhaps–"

"I am not going to interfere with whatever deal you made with your people," Fury interrupted. "If you want to throw some spells at them, fine. If you want to be on their team, fine. But there is no fucking way we're letting you power up if even the gods back in Asgard don't want you to." Fury looked back at the rest of the room, though Tony was pretty sure he was just looking at him. "All of you, behave." The screen went dark. Tony sighed.

"Thor," Steve said quietly, "why don't you tell us exactly what we don't know." And Thor did.

* * *

A few days after Fury had contacted the Avengers at their base, he got an envelope mailed to him. "Sir," said his secretary, "I think you should look at this."

It contained the four reports that Fury had asked for that had never been filed. All four reports were dated three days earlier, but the dates of the incidents corresponded to the days Loki had been noted as absent from the base. The reports themselves were written in elegant, sprawling handwriting that Fury did not recognize, and whoever had written them had not signed them. He could guess.

_Dr. Banner was kind enough to teach Loki how to operate a car. They did go some distance from the base, but no other humans saw them. If they had, they would likely have received a "ticket." The car being driven belonged to Mr. Stark. Duration of excursion: approximately one hour. _

Fury flipped to the next one.

_Dr. Banner escorted the God of Mischief out driving a second time. A vapor of some kind began to issue from the front compartment, but Dr. Banner assured his companion that someone else would take care of it. Duration of excursion: approximately thirty minutes._

Fury snorted. He was going to get this handwriting analyzed, and if it didn't show an ego the size of Manhattan, he was a hat.

_Desiring a breath of fresh air, the Liesmith ventured out of the bounds of the base. He was followed immediately by a non-relation named Thor, who also desired a breath of fresh air coincidentally at the same moment. Duration of excursion: between one and five hours. _

"Agent!" he called.

Maria appeared. "Yes, sir?"

He handed over the files. "Can you get someone to analyze these, please? And add that handwriting to our file on Loki."

As days passed, the number of reports rose. So did their level of sarcasm.

_Loki drove Thor to a shop in [town, classified]. There, Loki purchased a series of documentaries on Earth's wildlife while the mighty Thor was distracted by movies about princesses. During the excursion, Loki placed himself and Thor under a glamour, so they appeared as a pair of teenage girls. _

_They also visited a donut shop. _

_Purpose for the excursion: Once back at the base, Loki removed Mr. Stark's porn collection, opened the cases of the DVDs, and replaced the DVDs with the documentary ones. The incorrectly labeled documentaries were then returned to Mr. Stark's possession. The porn collection was repackaged in the documentary cases, which were then left for Mr. Barton with a note explaining that they were from Ms. Romanoff. As of the writing of this report, the box set has disappeared, but Mr. Barton does not seem to have mentioned the incident to anyone. Mr. Stark has been noticeably paranoid, but he has not mentioned it to anyone either. Observation will continue. _

_Duration of excursion: exactly 2700 seconds. Duration of observation: ongoing. _

Fury rolled his eyes. He was very glad that Thor was willing to put up with Loki, because none of Fury's agents would be willing to put up with this.

One day, Fury received a report that was not from Loki. It consisted of several documents from various departments. It was the official report of Loki's status as a threat that Fury had requested the minute they had heard of Loki's arrival, but since Loki wasn't fond of being under surveillance, it had taken awhile.

Fury flipped through the documents in the pile and paused at the last. This one was not from a department. It had been typed up neatly, and the signature on the bottom was Thor's. It was a full account of all the limitations the people back on Asgard had put on Loki's power. While Thor had given him the gist of these limitations some time ago, here they were nicely stated and explained.

The source of all these limitations was a ring of metal that had been placed around Loki's right wrist. The metal of this bracelet had been infused with (nearly) every containment and magic-limited spell in existence. These spells allowed Loki to create illusions, but they prevented him from gathering enough power to, for example, change shape or destroy matter larger in size than a ladybug – which was why Jane was not currently a puddle of goo on the floor of the Avengers base in New Mexico. The spells would not wear out before the death of the sun, and the bracelet itself was unbreakable; Loki could not remove it unless Thor released him. Loki was as little a threat as he could be under the circumstances.

So why, Fury wondered as he slowly closed the report, was he not reassured?


	11. Summer in New Mexico

_Summer in New Mexico_

Loki had developed a strong reaction to hearing the phrase "the Avengers." At first, it had been a flash of rage and a full-body flinch. Now, sitting in the 90-degree shade of the New Mexico desert, Loki was finding that anger wasn't exactly the right emotion. Even their name was pretentious. What were they avenging? He certainly had no idea. From the way their training was going, they didn't either.

Steve clapped his hands together, unintentionally sending up a cloud of dust. "Alright, let's try it again!" he shouted. There was a chorus of groans.

Tony popped his visor up and squinted at Steve. Tony's face was shiny was sweat, though his suit was looking considerably less shiny than usual under its covering of dust. "Don't you want to take a break? Or you could surrender. That sounds good."

"Hulk hot."

"We're all hot, buddy."

"No," Steve said shortly. "We have to get this right." Everyone looked at him. "If we can't do this, how are we supposed to save everyone who is depending on us? Do you want to disappoint all those people back in New York? We're the _Avengers._"

There was a muffled sound from the shade under a rock outcropping. It might have been laughter. The Hulk glared at the area and let out a deafening roar. The noise stopped.

Clint looked at Thor. "If he's going to laugh at us, can he do it somewhere else?"

Thor glowered at the shadow beneath the rock. "Steve's right. We can rest after we finish this exercise." With some dirty looks at the blistering sun, the group moved back into position.

In the days after Fury's conversation with the Avengers, the group had scoured the area around the base for a suitable place to train. All they had found was some desert, some more desert, and a lot of rocks. Clint had chosen a place at random, and along with Natasha and Steve, he had designed a series of exercises that pit various groups of the Avengers against each other. When the training plan was unveiled to the rest of the group, there had been a lot of speculating about what to do with Loki. Should he see them in action? He already had. Should he practice with them? Not (expletive) likely. But ultimately, they agreed that he couldn't be let out of Thor's sight, and Thor had to practice with them, so Loki came along.

Their first exercise involved trying to capture a flame-resistant flag that Clint had secured to the top of a tall rock with an arrow. Clint's team – which included the Hulk and Steve – was in charge of guarding the flag. Thor, Natasha, and Tony had found the flag pretty easily, but now that they were here, the mock battle had come to a standstill. The Hulk wasn't letting anyone past him, but he also wasn't exactly beating them back. He seemed to be very worried about hurting them (though he kept trying to "accidentally" throw boulders Loki's way). Clint was also not very comfortable with shooting at Natasha or Thor, even though both of them were perfectly capable of dodging, and an arrow wouldn't do very much to Thor anyway. Tony was the only one who had any kind of safe way to brush his opponents aside, but Steve was getting really tired of reflecting all his blaster shots back at him.

As the group reset to give the exercise another go, Loki watched Thor closely. From the tenseness of his jaw, Loki could tell even he was getting tired of this.

Clint shot an arrow at Thor. It exploded harmlessly a few inches next to Thor's head, which would probably have at least blown out his ear drums if he had been mortal. Thor ignored the arrow and slammed Mjolnir into the ground. The dry earth cracked open like an eggshell, and the rock containing the flag split in half. Clint and Steve jumped out of the way as half of the rock leaned precariously to one side. Thor raised Mjolnir and jumped up, but before he could get properly airborne, the Hulk grabbed him by one ankle and yanked him back to earth. Tony shot blasts at Steve and Clint to keep them away from the flag. Before he could do anything else, there was a shout from the top of the boulder. Natasha was standing on the rock, holding the flag in one hand.

Tony's suit immediately fell away from him. "Jesus, that took way too long," he commented as he stepped out of the armored boots. "Why'd it take you so long to pull out the big guns?" He walked over to Thor and tapped his biceps.

Loki stood up, uncurling himself like a tendril of the shadow come to life. "He was waiting for your friends to tire so they would be willing to give up."

"We didn't give up!" protested Clint.

"Didn't you?" asked Loki.

"Enough," said Steve. "Let's go home."

The group trudged back to the base, Loki trailing happily behind. "We can't keep doing this," Natasha finally said.

"No kidding," said Tony. "I vote we go back to training in the air conditioned, multi-billion-dollar base SHIELD built for us."

"We have to train as a team," Steve said. His voice was quiet, but it brooked no argument. "Our teamwork was the only thing that saved Manhattan."

"Uh, I remember things a little differently," said Tony.

They reached the base and filed through the door. "I didn't mean we should give up," said Natasha when they were inside, and everyone stopped and looked at her. She crossed her arms. "You're all terrified of hurting each other."

"Kevlar isn't going to be enough protection for any of us," Clint pointed out. "What are we supposed to do?"

The Hulk quietly turned back into Bruce Banner. Bruce hunched his shoulders in embarrassment at his minimal clothing, but he stepped forward into the circle they had formed anyway. "We do have one person here who could shield us," he said quietly.

Natasha looked over her shoulder at Loki, who was still standing by the door. "Can you do it?"

Loki slowly raised his eyebrows. "Can I? Of course."

"Even with your bracelet?" asked Clint. Loki left hand immediately encircled his right wrist. "Yeah, Thor us about that."

"Yes," said Loki, his voice deadly calm. "You've seen me use it before."

"Protective magic is not forbidden to him," said Thor quietly.

Steve's mouth tightened into a thin line. "We wouldn't know if he stopped shielding us. We could kill each other."

Natasha shrugged. "So we take a chance. It is any different than what we usually do?"

Steve ran his hand over his face. "Alright. Alright, he can do it."

"Will you?" asked Thor. There was a long silence.

"You are the least vengeful people I have ever met," Loki mused, and the group watched him as he brushed past them and ascended the stairs to his floor. Three black kittens that had been napping on the couch jumped down and bounded up the stairs after him.


End file.
